


Timeless

by hvnsdarling



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Character Death, Established Relationship, Fix It Fic, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hidden Relationship, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post Season 8, Secret Relationship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2020-11-07 16:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20820683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvnsdarling/pseuds/hvnsdarling
Summary: Keith always knew this day was going to come. It was always in the back of his head, but, he never really thought it would happen in the way it did."You're not Keith-" A much younger team was staring at him, like they'd seen a ghost. "Please... tell me this is a joke."----Or: Future Keith is sent back in time, a time where he's not with Lance and Allura is still very much alive.Past Keith is sent into a future that makes him wish that life was already different.





	1. When Lasers Blow.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited about this. I've had this idea since Voltron ended.  
It's kind of a fix-it-fic! But, with my favorite trope, time travel.
> 
> I made a few things different from cannon, so let me get those out of the way first so there's no confusion!  
In this, the Voltron Lions never went away. They're still existing and the paladins still have their bayards.
> 
> Lance doesn't end up a farmer. None of that here lol
> 
> That's really about it!

“Okay, we’re going to begin the first test. Are you two ready?” Pidge sat behind a bulletproof glass shield. Her glasses sat on the top of her head in favor of her goggles being pulled down. Her hair was tied into an unexplainably tight bun, and the coat that laid across her shoulders was a bit baggy.

Lance couldn’t help but see a spitting image of Matt staring them down.

“Ready as ever,” Keith responded from somewhere beside him, pulling his attention. Turning around, Lance took inventory. On his right, he spotted the familiar white, red, and black suit that stood out from the rest of the crowd.

Keith stood proudly, a sword drawn at his side. The helmet he wore was bulky, the protective glass already pulled down. He spared a glance Lance’s way, his lips curled upward just the slightest. In a blink of an eye, the glass glowed red, settling into a tinted black, and Lance could no longer make out Keith’s face.

Behind him stood several others. Their suits varied, from the white and orange armor that the cadets from the new Garrison Tech were obliged to wear, to sleek black suits that the just graduated cadets from the Marmora Academy wore.

They all wore similar helmets to what Keith had. They looked like the old Voltron Paladin helmet, however, they were all black, and there was a protective barrier at the mouth.

“Lance, are you ready?” Pidge called out again.

Signaling the cadets behind him to put down their glass, they nodded at his instruction, bowing their heads as their glass flew up, all glowing with a blue hue before settling to a black tint.

Turning back to face the glass, Lance put his own glass barrier down. “Ready Pidge!”

“Okay.” With that, she took a seat, making a few gestures to the fellow scientists that sat beside her. “I’m going to go over the instructions once more before we start. The room before you guys will transform into a randomly generated battlefield, you will need to dodge the obstacles that come your way while fighting the following bots. There will be a map sent randomly to one of you cadets. Your mission is to find the distress signal, get the supplies needed, and use the escape pods to extract them. The simulator will end on it’s own at that point.”

The glass before them transformed, a holo screen taking its place. They could no longer see the scientists on the other side as several profiles popped up in front of them. There were several images of bots Lance had seen time and time again, from the old galran senteries, to the drones that once roamed Earth’s surface, and finally, several different galran looking beings. Under each image was a small description of the bots, their attack damage, and in small Altean text, another description.

“What we’re testing here though, is the laser we were able to abstract from the cruizer that was taken down near the newly constructed side of Altea. We were able to run some simple tests on its effects, and from what we know, it’s a simple high-powered blaster. It will be situated on a helm of a speed cruizer. Your job is to find it’s weakness and take it down. Collect its pieces and bring them to the escape pod as well. If one of you is to be hit with it, stay calm, and take the mandatory precautions you all learned in training. We are unsure of its effects on humans and galras.”

At her words, Lance’s stomach dropped. After twenty-something years of fighting an intergalactic war, and then proceeding to learn more about the universe, you’d think he wouldn’t be so surprised and scared about the unknown possibilities.

In all fairness, Lance still thought none of this ever got any easier.

Although the war had ended years ago, they were still fighting to bring peace to the galaxy and to reform a new Altean-Human empire. They were still trying to unfold new information to create better technology and were still preparing soldiers to protect their newly formed societies.

The Galran Empire had been taken down several years ago now, several years since Allura’s sacrifice. Since then, the Galran Empire had been transformed by Kolivan and Krolia. They worked to undo the thousands of years of harm and damage their species had done. However, there were still groups out there that still believed in Honvera, Zarkon, and Lotor’s ways. 

They got labeled the extremists.

Although more than three-quarters of the universe was more than compliant with the newly founded peace that Voltron wished to bring and spread, there were still some that fought against it.

The new generation of soldiers from Garrison Tech and Marmora Academy were being taught how to fight back against these harmful resistances, and Lance and Keith found themselves being front and center of helping them.

“Test will begin in one minute,” Pidge’s voice rang.

Lance looked around them, his hand hovering over his hip. The holo screen that once was there in front of the glass disappeared, behind it, a simple white wall appearing.

Around them, the room began to transform, shift, and explode with color. As if entering a VR game, the terrain around them began to change, and before Lance could blink, he was smack dab in the middle of a battlefield.

Around him, buildings were burning. Smoke, fire, and haze seemed to go on for miles. The dirt under his boots felt unsteady and uneasy like he was stepping on a lumpy and curved planet.

There was no sound other than the communication lines from the cadets on the training deck activating.

** _“Test initiating in 10...”_ **

The words in bright blue hovered in front of them, and the count down started.

** _“9.”_ **

“Commander McClain,” a cadet behind him addressed.

** _“8.”_ **

“It seems like we’ve been put on a planet with low oxygen and an unsteady foundation.”

** _“7.”_ **

“The planet’s tectonic plates are collapsing,” another added on.

** _“6.”_ **

“We have fifteen minutes.”

** _“5.”_ **

“Good work cadets,” Keith shouted from beside him.

Around them, everything began to creak. A building to their far left was started to collapse, and all that could be heard through the training room’s speakers was metal on metal colliding.

** _“4.”_ **

Smoke was rising and beyond that, Lance could make out the faint outline of drones.

** _“3.”_ **

“The map to the escape pods has been sent.”

** _“2.”_ **

Looking back over his shoulder, Lance saw his cadets with their holo screens activated to the training room’s system. The system feed them the information needed as if this was an actual mission.

In front of them stood Keith, already in a combat position. His holo screen was on, illuminating from the side of his helmet rather than his suit’s arm piece like the cadets.

** _“1.”_ **

Keith turned his head slightly. If it hadn’t been for the dark tint of his helmet, Lance would have been sure they were making eye contact. Instead, Keith gave a simple curt nod his way.

He always did.

** _“Training session AG785 has begun. Test One of the Alnortality Ray.”_ **

And with that, the cadets around him took off, running ahead of him and Keith. Waiting a moment to allow them to gain some ground on them, Lance followed suit after them, Keith at his side.

“Cadets, who has the map?” Lance questioned, flicking his hand at his thigh. The familiar weight of his bayard set firmly in his hand, keeping its regular form.

In front of him, a black-suited hand raised. “Cadet Aldi, sir!” A boy shouted.

“Okay, Aldi. Lead the way. Where are we going?” Keith questioned him.

“We’re going to go straight between these buildings, there are a few drones. We’re going to take a right after we pass the glass building, and just keep going straight. The supplies should be situated at the bottom of a green and orange building. No sight on the cruiser yet.”

Not another word was spoken. Like clockwork, the cadets made their way through the street, followed by Lance and Keith. From behind the cadets, you could see their articulated work. They took their turns covering one another, firing at the bots in front of them and warning each other of falling debris.

It reminded Lance of how it was in the early years of Voltron. Although it was stressful then, he loved the adrenalin rushes, and lord, had he missed it.

Although, where he was right now in his life.

He wouldn’t trade it for the world.

At some point, Lance found himself forming his Altean Broad sword, taking a few slashes at drones that the cadets had missed. At his side, Keith was working on shooting down the drones that flew above them.

He stumbled over his feet, trying to keep a straight aim while running. Even when he stood still while shooting, he never really had the best aim. Surely it was nothing that compared to Lance’s on-point accuracy, but he was getting better at it.

Lance admired his determination.

In all honesty, he admired everything about Keith. That was no secret at this point.

“Right!” Aldi shouted at the front of the formation.

The cadets strafed, all making a beeline for the right. Their shields were now up, their long-range weapons were taken out.

“Cruiser is spotted up ahead. What is our next course of action?”

Through his helmet’s target locker, Lance saw the cruiser. An old galra sentry sat in the cockpit, and it was coming straight at them at a high speed. Looking down at the nose of the cruiser, he saw the blaster. 

It’s exterior was a neon blue. Sparks of electricity illuminated from its sides.

_ Dangerous. _

“Snipers, take aim for the sentry. Everyone else, aim for its blaster. As Pidge said, we have no idea of its effects. We take no chance here.” Keith shouted out the orders, pausing once he took out the last drone that hovered above them.

Their cadet’s form broke as they stopped in the middle of the road. They set their shields in front of them as the snippers made it to the front, getting to their knees and aiming right at the cruiser.

Their blasts were on time with each other's, making their fire more effective.

At his side, Keith nudged at his shield.

“I’m not entirely trusting of that new laser. It’s unlike Pidge to not know a lot about a new weapon before putting it into the training simulator,” Keith explained, his helmet bobbing as he spoke.

Lance let the words sink into him. It  _ was _ unlike Pidge to do something like that. Although it is a test, after all, she would usually test it on something other than the cadets first.

And from how the blaster was glowing, it seemed to be Altean tech.

“I have to agree with you on that one,” Lance nodded. “I don’t feel comfortable with the cadets touching it.”

“Let’s go after the cruiser, once they take down the sentry the cruiser should shut off. We can dismantle the laser.”

“Okay, let’s do this.”

The two of them split up, taking two different sidewalks up the street as they made it toward the cruiser. The cadets were still firing at it, and the sentry had yet to be taken down.

As shots whistled by Lance’s head, he pulled his shield to the side of his head, looking over to Keith and motioning for him to do the same.

At first, Keith shook his head, his right hand busy holding his bayard. Lance couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

At one particularly loud blast, he heard the engine of the cruiser cut.

Looking back up, he noted the sentry laying flat against the console of the cruiser as it sat still in the middle of the road.

Keith was the first one to run toward it, pulling himself up onto the side of the cruizer as his bayard transformed into his well-known sword.

Behind them, the cadets put themselves back in formation, heading their way.

Their shots at the laser made not a single dent into it. As Lance came closer and closer to the neon blue device, he noticed it didn’t even have a single burn mark.

“Keith, they didn’t even make a dent at the laser. It’s still fully active,” Lance shouted, pulling himself onto the front of the cruiser.

“That can’t be right.”

At that, Keith made his way from the side of the cruizer to the front beside Lance. The two carefully inspected the laser, making no move to distance themselves from it or remove it from the helm.

“Pidge said we need to remove it. Don’t you think it would be of better judgment to just, leave it?”

“I think you’re underestimating her. You know Pidge knows that it can’t do that much damage if she’s asking us to retrieve it.”

“I don’t know about that, Lance.” Keith’s voice wasn’t accusing, it was soft. Filled with worry. “I feel like we should pull the comms up and double-check with her.”

“I mean, technically, she can hear us right now. I think she would have sent something by now if she didn’t want us to take it?”

The two made eye contact- or, the equivalent of it through black-tinted helmets.

“I really just don’t think-”

“Commander McClain, watch out!”

The following events happened as such:

One, Lance turned his head back to the helm of the cruiser as he heard the cadets should. Two, the once downed sentry was sitting up slightly now, his hands moving to the console with determination. Three, the laser was warming up now, the familiar buzzing sound of it filling Lance’s ears.

And four, the laser went off.

A strong weight was pushing into Lance’s side immediately, throwing him off the cruiser. Two arms wrapped around his side, and the next thing he knew, he heard several screams.

As if it was never there, the weight at his side was gone, and his vision was turning black.

His elbow hit the ground first, then the side of his helmet, and then his hip.

Recovering as fast as he could, his eyes bolted open.

_ “Keith!” _

There was a loud explosion around him. The ground below him shook vigorously, the bottom of the cruiser dipping to hit the cracked cement.

His ears were ringing, and he vaguely could make out the shout,  _ “Traning sequence end!” _

Snapping his head up, through blurred vision, Lance saw a flash of white and red. Without a second thought, with burning bones, he was reaching up at the falling figure, catching him in firey arms.

His eyes clamped shut as another explosion went off, and before he could control his actions, he was covering the figure below him with his body, cradling his head under his arms. 

The floor still rattled beneath them, and Lance could vaguely make out his cadets yelling.

Opening his eyes, Lance looked down at the figure under him.

And like that, he thought the world just ended.

There was no black tinted helmet looking back at him.

Only a half-covered, regular glass, Voltron Helmet, with two violet, terror-filled eyes staring back at him. 

Lance’s breathing began to increase immediately. There was no burn scar on the side of Keith’s cheek. His hair wasn’t completely pulled back. There was no scar under his lip.

_ This wasn’t his Keith. _

There were loud footsteps all around him, but Lance couldn’t move. He kept as stiff as a board above the figure below him.

This couldn’t be real, he thought as he inspected the white armor he hadn’t seen in so many years.

A shaky breath escaped him as he felt a hand grab his forearm. Eyes darting to the side, he saw weak fingers curl around his armor, and suddenly Keith was pushing at him with force. Jerking back, he unwrapped his arms from Keith and slid back to the ground, his spine burning as he hit the ground hard.

“Commander McClain,” a cadet called out with worry. “Are you okay? Holt turned the simulation off.”

Before he even had the chance to address the cadet, the Keith who had been pushing at him was bolting up, his hand exploding with light as he activated his bayard. A strangled gasp left Lance’s throat when he lunged at him, pushing his already burning head into the ground and fitting his blade against his throat with light pressure.

“Where am I?” Keith demanded. His face was tight, his expression screwed into something Lance couldn’t exactly read. Not once had he been on the receiving end of this particular glare.

It was somewhere on the spectrum of scared, but angry all the same.

It was like all the words Lance knew had left his system.

He felt numb, breathless as this younger version of Keith continued to press the blade of the red bayard against his throat.

_ The red bayard. _

That didn’t make sense in the back of Lance’s already foggy brain. Keith possessed the black bayard. The red bayard laid limp beside Lance’s thigh, digging into his side. 

This didn’t seem right.

Suddenly, Keith’s blade retracted from his neck. There was a struggle of limbs and shouts, but once Lance finally got his senses back together, he looked up to see several cadets disarming this younger version of Keith, restraining his arms and keeping him still.

In their grasps, he thrashed. He kicked and jabbed at them with his elbows. His eyes were opened wide, frantic and scared.

In the pit of Lance’s stomach, this seemed familiar. Not in the sense like this was deja vu, but in the sense of he was forgetting something he knew he needed to remember.

Hands were grabbing at his shoulder blades and forearms, willing him to stand. He complied, keeping his eyes steady with the young Keith who was currently willing to put up one hell of a fight against twelve cadets.

As he steadied himself back onto the ground, locking his knees and keeping his hands wary at his sides, he watched Keith with steady eyes.

He looked to be about seventeen, eighteen at most. His hair poked slightly out under his protective glass, and his jawline wasn’t as sharp as it was when he was twenty. There was also the height and the way the paladin suit fit him differently from when it did in their last few years of fighting. It seemed bigger on him, like it was compensating for the lack of muscle.

Something was being pushed into his palm, and upon looking down, one of the Marmora Academy cadets was willing his bayard back into his grasp.

The sound of struggling came to a halt, breaths coming to an easy and no longer did the sound of armor on armor ring in the vicinity.

“Okay, this is really funny guys,” Keith suddenly spoke. His voice seemed strained, and his voice was an octave higher than Lance remembered it to be. “I showed up to practice late one time. I figured out your little simulation. You can quit messing around with me now.”

Looking back up to his face, Lance stared at this Keith’s face. The younger Keith had gone still in his cadets’ grasps, now staring at Lance.

“Shiro?” Keith called out, moving his eyes away from Lance. “Allura? Coran?” He paused, looking around the simulation deck. It had yet to return to it’s normal white and black dotted walls. “Hunk? Pidge?” There was an even longer pause now, and suddenly the some-what calm look Keith had managed to pull on was fading quick.

“Lance?” He shouted this time, arms thrashing. “Guys! This isn’t funny!”

He was back to thrashing again, kicking, and now screaming.

Saying nothing, Lance took down his tinted visor, tugging his helmet off with one hand. The young Keith in front of him paused, mouth dropping.

“Cadets, at ease,” Lance ordered, signaling them to drop Keith. Following his orders, the cadets dropped him, backing up a good foot behind him.

Keith stayed at a still, weaponless, as one of the cadets still had the bayard in his hand.

Clearing his throat, and swallowing thickly, Lance tucked his helmet under his arm and put his bayard back on the armor piece of his leg.

“Keith, this isn’t a simulation,” Lance started, his voice shaky. A few gasps came from some of the other cadets. 

It wasn’t hard to tell that this was most definitely Keith. The eyes were a dead give away. However, much had changed since their Voltron days. The current Keith was more muscular and built, not a skinny teenager. The current Keith had scars, and well, this Keith didn’t. There was also the fact that this Keith clearly had much shorter hair.

“I believe that something has gone very wrong.” Keith stared at him like he was a foreign creature. That was expected, Lance thought. 

Loud banging footsteps echoed around them suddenly. Peering in the direction they were coming from, Lance spotted Pidge running down the animated street, her lab coat disregarded and suddenly her bayard in hand.

“Hands where I can see them,” Pidge suddenly was saying, raising her de-transformed bayard up. Her goggles were still pulled down on her face, and she was carefully eyeing the young Keith that stood before them.

Uneasily, Lance was watching Pidge’s move, ready to stand between the two. Of course, Pidge would be cautious, but this Keith was clearly in distress as well.

“McClain, what happened,” Pidge ordered, looking his way now. They made eye contact, and now, Lance could see the way Pidge’s eyes were creased at the side. He noticed the way her shoulders shook and she worried her lip just the slightest.

Lance felt unsteady under her gaze. He could tell his arms were shaking, and his knees were beginning to buckle. The cadet who stood beside him was pushing their way between the two, pulling their helmet off. Purple hair bounced in front of them, as well as lean dark purple skin.

_ Athena. _

“Commander Holt,” she addressed with a sturdy voice.

Athena was a Marmora Academy graduate. She was following in the steps of her mother and uncle, and that uncle so happened to be  _ Keith _ . 

“Commander McClain and Kogane were disarming the laser from the cruiser. We thought we had disarmed the sentry. It came back to and pushed the button to the lazer. Lance was standing in front of the laser, and Keith pushed between the laser and him. Then you turned the simulation off, and the next thing we knew, Keith was gone, and this Keith had taken his place.”

Pidge nodded but continued to slowly make her way toward them with her bayard at her chest. 

As she made it beside Athena, she lowered her bayard. Keith stared at her for a moment, taking in her appearance before lifting a questioning eyebrow.

“Pidge... Lance...?”

Pidge lowered her bayard, pocketing it at her side. She nodded toward Lance, stepping beside him.

“My apologies for the hostility, Keith,” Pidge is quick to apologize. “Please allow me to explain. Your future counterpart from this time was hit with a laser, it’s effects resulted in this,” she pauses, motioning to him. “You two switching spots. You have been brought to the future, and from what I hope, our Keith has been put in your place in the past.”

Pidge pauses, her eyes downcast. She pulls her goggles down from her face to let them hang loosely over her neck. Her pale hands hover over them, clenching into fists as her lower lip juts out.

“This has happened before, in our past,” she states. 

Lance watches her expression carefully as she closes her eyes. This has happened before? He doesn’t remember so.

“It was a mess... We had future Keith. He explained the situation to us... Our future counterparts had to fix it.” As if coming to a realization, Pidge is walking in front of Lance, hoisting herself up onto the cruiser. Her hands work quick to dismount the laser.

Lance’s eyes move from Pidge to Keith. Keith is side-eyeing Pidge, his expression blank with the exception of the curious arcs in his eyebrows. As if feeling his gaze, Keith turns to look at Lance.

When their eyes meet, Keith’s face changes. His lips press together harder, he lowers his eyebrows and his stance shifts.

“We need to fix this,” Pidge says as she jumps from the cruiser. She motions to Keith first, and then eyes Lance.

“Let’s go.”


	2. We'll Be Back Before You Know

Standing straight, Lance swallowed thickly around the roughness in his throat. Beside him, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro stood in silence, while in front of them, Allura and Coran were in the midst of a short simulation debriefing. After a quick breakfast, the team was ushered into the changing rooms and were told to report to the training room as soon as possible. Though, they were one paladin short.

The words were left unspoken when everyone had arrived roughly at the same time, with the exception of one. The words were still left unspoken two minutes after they arrived, and then five, and now ten. It was unlike the red paladin to be late.

Keith was never late.

He was precise, on time, his attention always left completely focused on the task at hand. There was not a single time within the last year and a half that Keith was late to a training session. Even with broken bones and wounded skin, with dark lines casting under his eyes, and even with running noses and half-lidded eyes, he always showed up on time. For the most part, he was the  _ first _ to arrive.

So, Lance stood and waited. A lot of his life seemed to consist of waiting now. Waiting for their next mission. Waiting in the silence of his room while everyone else was preoccupied. Waiting at the castle windows, watching the stars, and counting the days since they left Earth. Waiting until the day he wasn’t always cast in the shadows. Waiting for something to distract him from how utterly helpless he felt half the time.

Waiting, like always.

_ “Where is Keith?” _

The words stayed unspoken on the tip of his tongue. He stared at Allura, eyes hard, lips pressed together. She noticed, didn’t she? She noticed the red was missing in the mix of black, yellow, green, and blue. She noticed  _ everything. _ But at this moment, her body was turned to Coran, her hands folded on her stomach as she noded. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her eyebrows were drawn down, casting shadows over her eyes.

Pulling his attention from her, she looked down the line of paladins at his side. At his right, he looked up to Shiro. His stance was stiff, ready for orders, but his head was twisted to the side, his eyes adrift.

He noticed, at least.

Just as he was about to address Shiro, an unexpected clatter split through the air.

Everyone’s attention in the room shifted toward the door, where there was the sound of something hard falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

_ “-ance!” _

Lance could’ve sworn he heard his name screamed through the clattering, but that was dismissed as he saw Shiro shift, turning in front of him and readying his arm into a fighting position.

“What was that?” Pidge questioned from behind him. He felt her hand on his elbow, tugging at it softly as she stepped at his side.

“Something must’ve gotten into the castle,” Allura supplied, her tone wavering.

“Isn’t Keith still out there though?” Hunk chipped in with quickness.

Silence filled the air. Lance looked about the room, seeing everyone staring down the door with similar confusion. He found himself staring it down as well in the end, his hand hovering over his side.

That had to have been Keith, right? But, what was all that noise then? Keith wasn’t the clumsy kind. 

Well, from what Lance knew of, and Lance knew a lot if he had any say in it, Keith was quick on his feet. It just wasn’t like him to just, what, fall?

With another beat of silence, the doors flew open. There was a pause, a hint of hesitance before a figure stepped foot into the room.

Around him, everyone instantly shifted, armor shields going up and bayards out. Before he could register the being itself, Lance was throwing himself in front of Allura, a protective arm covering her while he held his shield in front of them. She was weaponless at the moment, as well as in her formal wear.

Once he had them covered, Lance finally took in regards the being’s appearance.

They wore a black and white armored suit. In some aspects, it had the same outer appearance as Voltron’s suits, with bulky shoulders and a specialized armored neckpiece. Their helmet looked something similar to a biker helmet, it covered their entire head, hiding their identity.

Was it a galra?

It had to have been.

“Who goes there?” Shiro’s voice was stern, loud, and demanding. At his side, Hunk’s bayard was transforming, aiming at the being.

Pausing mid-stride, the being stilled. Their head snapped into the Paladin’s direction, and their hands curled into fists at their side. Their armor had been tampered with from what Lance could see. There was a thick layer of dirt covering them, black smudge marks, and what looked to be ash.

Instead of answering Shiro’s demand, they shifted, arms crossing in front of them.

_ “KORRA! Shield up!” _

In front of them, a large shield went up. It was much larger than the paladin’s, as it went from the floor to the ceiling of the training deck. It put an invisible wall between the perpetrator and the paladins.

Squinting, Lance could see the familiar pattern of the Castle’s shield sparkle in front of them.

There was mutual confusion between the paladins as they all looked about themselves.

Lance could feel his breath catch in his throat. They had never seen anything like this happen before. Not even their own technology could do that.

There were a hundred thoughts racing in his mind. Where was Keith? Had he seen the perpetrator and gone after him? Was that what that sound was out there? Where had this being come in from?

His questions were left unanswered as Shiro shouted again.

“We wish you no harm!”

There was no response. Instead, the being’s shoulders shook, their arms still crossed over them in a large x motion.

_ “KORRA, commence scan!” _

A petrified shriek escaped Hunk as five green beams shooted out from the being’s armored wrist. With a racing heart, Lance readjusted his shield, reading to brace for impact against a laser. However, that impact never came, and with a strangled breath, he watched as the small green beam shot to his feet, moving up his body in slow motion.

Each of the five beams did this to them, tracing their body and scanning their faces. In front of him, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro went rigid as they watched the beams disappear after hitting their faces.

“Identification scan, complete,” a loud womanly voice announced. It sounded like Allura’s voice, but upon turning to her, Lance saw Allura’s stilled face and confusion.

In front of the being, five different holo screens hovered in front of him.

Lance watched in both wilderness and sacredness as people’s photos began to appear.

On the first holo screen, an image of a young woman showed up. Her face was serious, no smile or facial expression, almost similar to a mugshot. There were glasses on the top of her head, pushing back stray bangs. Long blonde hair flowed over her shoulders and out of the shot.

Under the image was an array of words Lance failed to make out, but to his surprise, the same womanly voice began to speak. “Identification: Katie-Pidge Elizabeth Holt, the Green Paladin of Voltron. Access code, green. Age, unable to determine. Station, Holts Stationery.”

What.

Pidge, in front of him, flinched. Her bayard transformed in her hand, and suddenly, she was shouting over the next array of words.

“Hey! What is that? You can’t just- just scan me and have- weird information!”

Looking at the photo harder, Lance  _ saw it. _

He saw the ways it looked like Pidge. Soft hazel eyes, familiar glasses perched on the crown of her head, her hair pretty much the same but very much grown out. It looked almost identical to her now, but her facial features were different, more sculpted and prominent features.

The holoscreen with her picture disappeared as the being swiped the air in front of it.

Focusing on the next image, he noticed the dark skin. The shaggy hair, but familiar orange bandana. A very sweet and soft smile, eyes shut with enthusiasm. It was a spitting image of Hunk, but his cheekbones were more prominent.

“Identification: Tsuyoshi-Hunk Garrett, the Yellow Paladin of Voltron. Access code, green. Age, unable to determine. Station, Earth.”

At the word Earth, everyone visibly flinched.

Lance felt his throat go dry as he watched the holo screens change. These were all images of them, information about them, but it didn’t make sense.

Something wasn’t adding up.

How did this being have this information, let alone technology?

“Identification: Takashi Shirogane-Wright, ATLAS Captain. Access code, orange. Age, unable to determine. Station, Earth.”

The image was identical to Shiro.

In front of him, Shiro flinched hard, stance lowering. The last name Wright didn’t seem right in Lance’s mind.

There was a second of silence, but it clicked.

It clicked hard.

Professor Adam Wright, one of the professors at the Garrison. He vaguely remembers seeing Shiro and Adam together in photos in the Garrison books. He remembers seeing an empty office beside Shiro’s. They were a thing, weren’t they?

But, there was surely no way they had gotten married before Shiro went on the Kerberos mission.

_ Right? _

“Identification: Coran of Altea, King of Altea. Access code, green. Station, Altea of New.”

The holoscreen was brighter, an image of a smiling Coran. He didn’t look different, except, there was a crown on his head and a cape across his shoulders.

At his side, Allura dropped a hand onto his shoulder. “Altea of New?” She mumbled in astonishment. “King?”

Turning, he saw Allura’s jaw had dropped, her eyebrows slanted upward. He saw the confusion in her eyes. He felt the pain of her expression. Beside her, Coran was stiff with equal confusion.

“Identification: Leandro-Lance Antonio McClain, the Red Paladin of Voltron. Access code, green. Age, unable to determine. Station, Earth Side. Side station, Altea of New.”

There was a pause in the air.

Lance had not heard his real name in almost five years. His stomach churned as he turned to see the holoscreen, the wind practically knocked out of him.

This holoscreen was different from the others. There was much more text among the screen, and instead of a still image, it was a video. A man looked right at them on the holoscreen, a large smile plastered across their face.

Their hair was a bit longer than Lance’s currently, their smile a bit more genuine. On his cheeks, neon crescents glowed with pride. They were altean markings.

The man in the holoscreen laughed, their laughter echoing around them. They backed up in the imagery, putting up two-finger guns before shouting, “Get nerfed, loser!”

It was Lance’s voice alright.

Behind him, a figure pushed at him, causing him to tumble from view. 

It was Keith.

Keith, with longer hair, and dark and deep scars across his cheeks.

“Coran, if you use that for his identification card, I’m leaving him on Earth-”

At that, the video began to replay, and the being closed the screen.

The room was quiet as everyone’s eyes suddenly landed on Lance.

He felt his face heat up.

“What was that?” He found himself shouting as the last holoscreen appeared with red text. The text was unreadable, as it was in another language that looked faintly like the characters around the Castle.

The being closed the holo screens, standing still.

If it wasn’t for the tinted helmet, Lance could’ve sworn the being was looking at him.

“Seriously. Where did you get that?”

Tensions grew, and Lance’s panic grew with it.

With hesitation, the being shouted,  _ “KORRA, shield down.” _

The shield lowered to the ground, and they tugged their helmet off.

“I’m sorry for the confusion,” they spoke, their voice clear now without the muffledness caused by the helmet. Tucking the helmet under their arm, they lifted their heads.

_ The world must’ve ended. _

_ There was no doubt that the world just ended. _

“It’s Keith- Actually, I guess I’m an older Keith by the looks of you guys,” he introduced himself, and Lance, again, thought the world really did end.

Standing in front of them looked to be, well, an older Keith. His hair was pulled up in a messy bun, strands of his hair plastered to his cheeks from what looked like sweat. There were two deep scars running up the side of his left cheek, ending just under his eye. His cheekbones seemed more prominent now as well as his jaw bone- not that Lance would  _ know _ because he definitely didn’t stare at him  _ that _ often to notice.

When no one said a world in reply, he cleared his throat and continued to talk. “I have proof- that I am actually Keith, that is. KORRA, commence scan.” With that, he was extending his arm outward, twisting his wrist upwards. A green laser similar to the one that had scanned him and his teammates scanned this “older Keith” in under a second.

A similar hologram also appeared in front of his team now, an image of this older Keith shining on it. There was a smile, a  _ genuine _ smile at that, spread across his face, his eyes focused on something at his side.

“Identification: Keith-Akira Kogane, the Black Paladin of Voltron. Access code, green. Age, twenty-six. Station, Earth Side. Side station, Altea of New.”

As soon as the woman’s voice was done projecting, the older Keith in front of them swiped away the holoscreen and turned back to meet eyes with Allura. “I come from what seems like eight years in the future, guessing you guys are still teenagers?” He makes a quick motion to Lance, and then to Hunk and Pidge, and they all nod in reply. He hums, pushing away some of the stray pieces of hair from his face. 

“Keith? That’s... really you?” Allura questions from behind him, and slowly he’s deactivating his shield and taking a few steps away from her. “How did... this happen?”

“It’s a long story,” he starts before pausing, then shaking his head. “Actually, no it’s not, this is all Katie’s fault.” And then he starts  _ laughing. _

“Hey, wait a minute!” Pidge gasps offendedly, pointing her bayard at him. “I will have you know I did  _ nothing _ !”

“Not you,” Keith corrects himself. “Older you, Katie from my time. We were running through drills with our cadets and she used a laser on us that she had no clue of its effects. I guess we see what the effects were now...” He trails off, eyes flickering about the room before he’s suddenly turning around. “Wait- Am I the only one who showed up here?” He asks frantically before turning back around with wide eyes.

The words  _ our cadets _ and  _ laser _ bounce around in Lance’s head before he sees Shiro walking toward the now turned frantic older Keith.

“You’re the only one who showed up that we know of,” Shiro answers, but that doesn’t seem to satisfy Keith.

“So, no Lance, right?”

Allura shakes her head from his side. “Not that we have seen, as Shiro has said. Was he hit by this... laser... as well?”

Keith takes a moment to think. “I don’t know,” he replied truthfully, looking a little defeated with that answer. 

“Let us check the castle, just to be safe. We should also look for the other Keith while we are at it. Once the castle has been searched, let us meet back at the bridge,” Allura instructs as she takes strides towards the older Keith. No one makes any rebuttals as they’re fleeting out of the room.

Lance follows Allura and Keith out of the room with Coran, not sure where to go first or what to even  _ think _ .

So much was running through his head. This Keith was from the future? They end up going back to Earth- if those weird holo screens had any sort of truth to them that was. Did that mean they had won the war? How long into the future would that be from now? What if-

“You’re not hurt are you, my boy?” Coran questions from somewhere ahead of him. Looking up from his dragging feet, he watches at this much taller Keith shakes his head.

“I don’t think so. My ribs hurt a bit, but I did take a nasty fall earlier,” he responds.

That’s it. They don’t say anything after that as they make it through the long hallways of the castle. At some point, Lance breaks off from them, walking down through the dining hall hallway to check and see if anyone is down there.

He calls for Keith and then even himself a few times. When he gets no reply, he makes his way through a few more hallways and checks in the common room before making his way to the bridge where everyone else had already congregated. 

“No sign of anyone else in the castle, Princess Allura,” Shiro is the first to speak.

“I didn’t find anything either,” Pidge is agreeing and Hunk nods at her side.

“Nothing as well,” he says, his throat feeling a little tight. So no one knew where their Keith was then? His stomach dropped so quickly after he suddenly felt sick.

“It’s possible that Keith from your time and I have switched spots,” the older Keith says from the half opened healing pod he is standing stiffly in. “If that is the case, he will be in good hands with Lance and Katie from my time period. They are the only ones from the team stationed at New Altean at the moment.”

Before he could ask the question prodding at his mind, Allura had beat him to it.

“New Altea?”

Keith just nods. “I probably shouldn’t say much, right? Isn’t that how time abnormalities begin?”

“I think  _ this _ is already a time abnormality,” Lance finds himself commenting before he can even stop himself. Keith takes a moment to register the comment before meeting with him for less than a second.

“You’re not wrong,” he sighs before turning back to Coran. “Are we all set?”

“Yes! You’re all set number four-” Coran pauses, looking up from the dashboard he was looking at. “Well, you’re much taller than everyone else now, aren’t you? Looks like you’re the temporary number one for now!”

As Keith steps out from the pod, he chuckles. “I’m number one in my current time too, so that works.”

“You’re taller than  _ Shiro? _ ” Hunk gasps.

In reply, Keith shrugs. “ _ Galra genes _ .”

“Oh my- I forgot about  _ Galra Keith!” _ Hunk shouts ecstatically and Lance watches as Keith visibly shutters.

“Hunk, please, do not start on that again. Do you know how long you called me Gay Keith when I came out?,” Keith groans as he walks up to Coran and the room  _ pauses. _

Lance physically feels his jaw drop.

Keith’s  _ gay. _

Not that that was a bad thing at all! That was quite the furthest thing from a bad thing in Lance’s mind- and maybe  _ that _ was the bad thing.

“Woah,” Pidge utters. “You just outed your younger self.”

“Pretty sure this is how I came out to you guys anyway, not that it’s a big surprise or something,” he says so casually, and for a  _ third _ time that day Lance thinks that the world ended.

He’s never heard Keith joke around so much, let alone be  _ casual. _

He’s caught even more by surprise when Keith stands behind Coran and examines the Altean text. “Bruised ribs? I can live with that at least,” he mutters, squinting at the text.

At that, Allura is whipping her head towards him. “You can read Altean?”

“Fluently,” Keith almost brushes off as he reaches out to the holoscreen and scrolls through his diagnostics.

“When did this become a thing?”

“Lance’s twentieth birthday. He insisted the only thing he wanted as a present was for me to learn Altean so he could talk in ‘morse code’ around his family. God... his mother cried for a week when he would stop talking Altean in front of her, she insisted he was possessed.”

Lance feels his heart clench now. Keith was really throwing all sorts of whiplashing causes statements out today.

“Wait a minute,” He finds himself saying, walking up to the other side of the holoscreen so he can meet eye to eye with Keith. “First of all,  _ I _ made you learn Altean? And second of all, you have  _ met _ my family?”

Keith meets eyes with him, and as quick as he does, his eyes are flickering to another part of the holoscreen. “You insisted the team stay with you and your family when we returned for a summer. We all met them.”

Lance practically revels in the news. “So we do go back to Earth- and  _ soon _ too! And my family is all okay- and- and- wait  _ are _ they all okay?”

Keith finally stops scrolling through the holoscreen to give him his full attention. “They’re fine, Lance. Everyone’s families are okay, I promise.”

Everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief at that, and just like that, the conversation is taking yet another turn.

“That is great news,” Allura is announcing. “But, we need to keep on task at the moment. How will we get you back to your proper time? And how will we get our Keith back as well.”

“The year is 2340, right?” Keith questions, making the effort to turn over his shoulder to face Pidge. She nods with a smile. “Okay, so I was right. I am eight years older than you guys then.” He pauses, clearing his throat once again. “The invention that was used to send me back in time isn’t made for another three or four years, I am  _ guessing. _ The laser reminded me of Altean technology.”

“Do you remember what it looked like?”

“It was white and had what looked like star engravings into the side of it. When it started up, it illuminated blue like when the bayards transform.”

Allura and Coran looked stumped at that.

“We will figure this out in due time, I am sure,” Allura attempts to comfort him as she grabs the older Keith by the shoulders and gives him a warm smile. “Let us get you some food and proper clothes until then, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapters! I don't plan on this being a very lengthy story, so the chapters will be around 4,000-6,000 words a piece! :)

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this is so short!  
i just wanted this to be the introduction, if i had put this with the first chapter it would have been really weird?  
ok so  
y e a h :D


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